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MANCHESTER, N.H. – Amanda Williams and Katy Teets posted double-digit kills in both matches, but the Saint Anselm College volleyball team dropped a five-setter to American International College and a four-set match to LIU Post at its home tri-match on Saturday at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.

With 24 kills on the day, Teets moved into sixth all-time at Saint Anselm with 897 kills, passing the mark of 889 by Charlotte Tencza (2008-11).

In the opening match of the day, Saint Anselm (10-6, 4-1 NE10) took a two-sets-to-one lead before American International (9-8, 2-1 NE10) rebounded for a 14-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-19, 15-9 victory. The Yellow Jackets snapped the Hawks' eight-match winning streak and handed Saint Anselm its first NE10 setback of the season.

Catherine McCarthy led three Hawks in double figures in kills in the opener with a match-high 17 while hitting .298. Williams and Teets joined McCarthy with 15 and 10 kills, respectively, with Williams and Holly Manchester each tallying seven block assists. Jewel Hays had a double-double of 36 assists and 11 digs, while Danielle Isbell paced the Hawks with 18 digs.

AIC also had three players with at least 10 kills, as Annie Boele had a double-double of 15 kills, 11 digs and five aces, Arianna Pena-Martinez recorded 14 kills and Jana Potic pitched in with 13. Dolores Kopren handed out 45 assists, while Mercy Rivera recorded 28 digs in the back.

Saint Anselm started quickly, winning 12-straight points after going down 2-0 in the opening set. Manchester had four early kills as the Hawks rode Teets' serve to a 12-2 lead. AIC closed the gap to eight twice later in the set but that was as close as the visitors would get as Saint Anselm took the first set, 25-14, outhitting the Yellow Jackets .333 to .000.

In the second, AIC got out to a 7-2 lead after back-to-back blocks by Victoria Perini. The Yellow Jackets led by as many as nine, 14-5, before the Hawks made a run to close the gap to just four at 16-12 following consecutive kills by Williams. The four-point deficit was as close as Saint Anselm would get, however, as AIC evened the match at a set apiece.

After a back-and-forth start to the third set, a Madison Sollows kill gave the Hawks an 18-15 edge, only for the Yellow Jackets to win four consecutive points to go ahead. Later, AIC won three-straight points to bring up set point at 24-23, but the Hawks saved it on a McCarthy kill. The Hawks went on to take the third, 26-24, after another McCarthy kill and an AIC error.

Neither team led by more than two in the fourth until AIC built a 12-8 advantage. Pena-Martinez had three kills in the decisive spurt that the Yellow Jackets held onto to send the match the distance. Both teams hit .333 in the fourth.

Saint Anselm started the decider by winning the first four points but AIC came right back to go ahead 9-6 after a 9-2 run that included three-straight Boele kills. The Hawks cut the deficit to one, 10-9, only for AIC to win the final five points to earn the win.

LIU Post (14-3) rebounded from dropping the first set to defeat Saint Anselm 19-25, 25-16, 26-24, 26-24 in the final match of the day. After the teams split the opening two sets, the Pioneers outlasted the Hawks in the third and fourth sets to finish the day 2-0 after sweeping AIC.

Teets was in double figures in kills for the fourth consecutive match, leading Saint Anselm with 13. Williams had 10 while hitting .286 out of the middle. Hays racked up 39 assists and a team-high 16 digs, while Isbell had 15.

Rachel Londot and Danielle Valenza each had 16 kills for LIU Post and Londot added 14 digs for a double-double. Kassie Akouri-Tejedor and Giulia Genna had 25 assists apiece and Indira Rojas tallied a match-high 18 digs for the Pioneers.

Saint Anselm's only deficit in the first set was 1-0 as the Hawks quickly built a 9-3 lead early on. LIU Post hung around, trailing by just three, before Saint Anselm won five consecutive points, three on Williams kills, to go ahead 24-16. The Pioneers fended off three set points but another Williams kill gave the Hawks the first set.

LIU Post pulled away midway in the second set, winning seven-of-nine points to take an 18-9 advantage. The spurt proved decisive, as the Pioneers hit .556 with 16 kills and just one error to level the match.

The visitors opened up a 7-2 lead early in the third and held the lead all the way until the Hawks won four consecutive points to go up 19-18. With their lead gone, LIU Post responded to take the lead back and brought up set points at 24-21. The Hawks saved all three only for the Pioneers to go up two sets to one after a Valenza kill and a Saint Anselm error.

LIU Post broke open a tight fourth set by winning four points in a row to build a 17-13 edge. Trailing 23-19, Saint Anselm fought back to even the set at 24-24 after the Pioneers missed a serve on match point. Like the third set, the Pioneers put together back-to-back points to finish the fourth on a Valenza kill and a block by Genna and Lea Brady.

Saint Anselm is off next week until it hosts its second-straight tri-match on Saturday, Oct. 7. Merrimack visits Stoutenburgh Gymnasium for an 11 a.m. NE10 match that is followed by a matchup with Queens (N.Y.) at 3 p.m.

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